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Well, That Didn’t Help

Tim Lincecum’s outing started in typically rough fashion today, as the Nationals tagged him for two runs in the first inning, and worked up his pitch count to 38. He was actually pretty sharp at times in today’s start, but by the end of the fourth inning, he was in the midst of his third go-round at the Nationals’ lineup and already up near 100 pitches. So that would do it for him.

There’s no question that today was all about Melky. But had Lincecum pitched well, and the Giants won this game (and the series), it would have been a heck of a lot easier to forget about Melky, even if only for a while. Today’s game was especially painful because five of Lincecum’s six second-half starts had been good — one more start like the one he had on July 14th, and I probably would have been ready to toss aside any concerns about Lincecum. Should we be as concerned about Lincecum as before?

In the later innings of this one, it looked like the Giants might be able to put together a comeback. They had runners on second and third with no outs in the eighth, but only managed to score one run. And in the ninth, when Pablo Sandoval appeared to have popped out to end the game, the ball dropped and Hector Sanchez came around to score. Suddenly, the Giants had Buster Posey up at the plate, representing the tying run.

And he struck out. And they lost. And that’s just how it goes sometimes.

There are a few silver linings though (not that they outweigh today’s unfortunate news). Among them:

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One thought on “Well, That Didn’t Help”

Felix Hernandez’s perfect game will also impact how Matt Cain is viewed for the NL Cy Young this year. Cain still has enough time to make up ground in Wins and SOs with Stephen Strausberg, but if he doesn’t I feel many writers will dismiss the perfect game as tie-braking criteria, especially if the Giants don’t make the postseason.

It’s ironic. Earlier in the year, the Chronicle was trumpeting at how the Giants would have made the postseason many, many times if there was a second wildcard team. Now, in its first year, it looks like a competitive Giants team will again fall a few games short.